Musky Time

Fishing Time:  5:30 AM to 2:00 PM

Weather:  Sunny, clear, T-80s, breezy after 12:00 PM

Moon Phase:  5% Moon

Location:  Pineview Reservoir

Water Temp:  69 degrees

Best Bait:  Musky- wacky rigged senkos, swimbaits, cutbait

Who Went:  Bobber John, Me

Bobber John and I had big plans to do an extreme day trip down to Fish Lake, but when the forecast called for morning winds of 16 mph and 25 mph by afternoon, I couldn’t get myself to do it.  On the contrary, the forecast at Pineview was for 1 mph winds up until noon.  This sounded much more appealing and we took the bait.  Luckily, the forecast was right and we had a gorgeous day on the water, right up until the entire town of Ogden showed up around noon.  Coincidentally, that’s when the wind started blowing as well.  Good, make them suffer!

Prior to the recreational boaters and wind pushing us off the lake earlier than we would have liked, we did get some fishing in.  I took a different approach this trip after two previous trips throwing swimbaits and other large fish imitating lures only left me with a sore back and no muskies to show for it.  I started by throwing a dark green senko rigged wacky.  I used a homemade leader made from 80 lb monofilament line just in case a musky took interest.  It wasn’t long until the smallmouth noticed my offering and I was able to pull a few into the boat.  

Nothing big, but at least it was a fish on the end of my line.  Bobber switched baits often with a jig/trailer getting most the action.  Early morning was a bust and produced no muskies.

Late morning arrived and I was finally greeted with a bite that felt a little more aggressive than a smallmouth and it was finally game on.  After a short but strong fight I was able to land this musky…

It’s not a monster, but I was long overdue so no complaining.  These fish seem to be more tightly lipped than I can ever remember.  It was the only musky hit we had all day and I think I’ve had my fill of constant casting with no success for these toothy critters.  This musky should satisfy the urge for awhile.  You can check out the musky action by clicking on the link below…

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GmQx-_ZZ00

Happy Fathers Day

Fishing Time:  2:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Weather:  Sunny, clear, T-80s
Moon Phase:  91% Moon
Location:  South Jordan Community Pond
Bait:  Worm under a slip bobber
Who Went:  Cari, Devin, Addison, Dayton, Bobber John, Carter, Me

It’s father’s day and the only present I asked for was to take my family fishing.  At least for as long as they would last.  Turns out that was 1 hour.

I received a tip from my buddies Rick and John who were at the community pond the night before with Ricks daughters and said the catfish were on fire.  Must have just stocked it.  Maybe for father’s day.  They sent me this picture of one of the catfish that Ricks daughter Dylan caught.  Not bad for a community pond. 

The pond is only a few miles from my house, so this was a great option.  I rigged three rods, packed some gear and lunch, and off we went.  John and his nephew were at the pond when we arrived and already had two catfish on a stringer.  Good sign.  I helped the kids cast each rod out into the pond and the fishing began. 

The kids didn’t really love the patience part of fishing.  We had line tangles and and crying within minutes.  Luckily Dayton found more interest in finding bugs and left his rod alone.  It wasn’t long until his bobber disappeared and we had a catfish on.  I handed the rod to Devin and I was amazed at how well he did reeling the fish in.  The fish was even pulling drag, but he stuck with it.  You can check out the action by clicking on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGz16nenI1Y 

After the catfish was landed the kids decided they liked casting and reeling in way more than staring at a bobber waiting for it to go underwater.  So, no more fish were landed by the Duncan clan.  By the time the hour was up, we had three rods and reels in complete disarray.  We loaded the kids and the whirl wind that is the Duncan family was gone.  I’m sure the rest of the fishermen at the pond thanked us, but I was happy.  I finally got to take all three of the kids fishing together, even if there wasn’t much fishing involved.

Willard Crappie and Pineview Musky

Fishing Time:  Willard – 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM, Pineview – 12:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Weather:  Willard – breezy turning windy, clear skies, T-50s, Pineview – Strong wind, clear, T-70s

Moon Phase:  77% Moon

Location:  Willard/Pineview

Best Baits:  Willard – small curly tail grubs on 1/16 oz jighead, Pineview:  7-inch swimbait

Water Temp:  Willard - 70˚ F, Pineview - 69˚ F

Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

WILLARD:

The reports coming from Willard Bay recently have been ridiculously good for walleye, wiper, and crappie.  Willard has always kicked my butt with only a couple trips out of around ten producing any fish, but these reports sounded to promising to pass up.

We arrive to Willard Bay at 5:30 AM to find a locked gate.  Apparently the ramp doesn’t open until 6.  Okay.  Off to the gas station to grab a bite.  Back to the gate at 5:45 and sat there and rigged rods until the magical gate suddenly opened at 6 AM. 

We launched at the north marina and went around the corner to the north where there are some small underwater humps.  

We were hoping to find some crappie.  The area proved to be successful and we began catching them one after another.  Not monsters but respectable from 9-12 inches.  We filled the livewell with our limit then moved on to wiper/walleye fishing.  

You can check out our Crappie success by clicking on the link below:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHob-CMrKKc 

As usual the walleye/wiper fishing produced nothing.  I did have one bite on a bottom bouncer rig, but that was it for 2 hours of trolling.  We bottom bounced using worm harnesses going 1.0 to 1.2 mph.  We also trolled at 3.0 to 3.2 mph with various crankbaits trying to luck into a wiper.  Unfortunately luck was not on our side.  By 10 AM the wind was whipping and the long rock dikes of Willard were getting really boring to look at as we trolled aimlessly from one end to another.  

We loaded up the boat and conceded to another wiper skunk at Willard.  The crappie made it a successful Willard trip though.  After loading the boat, we filleted our crappie, put them in a cooler on ice, and headed up the canyon to Pineview.

PINEVIEW:

We arrived to Pineview around noon and were greeted with 20 mph winds and a lake full of recreational boaters.  We thought about bagging the whole idea, but then realized we don’t make it up that way very often and decided to tough it out. 

After launching we motored through the gauntlet of boaters, and made our way over to a shoreline that was somewhat protected from the wind and had a few less boats running around, but was still miserable due to boat wake that continued to pound us all day long. 

We worked the entire shoreline with me throwing a 7-inch Berkley hollow belly swimbait rigged weedless for musky and Bobber John using a jig/trailer hoping to land a bass or two.  Midway through the run, Bobber had an unexpected bite followed immediately with cut line and a long white flash appearing along the weedline where his jig was.  We knew immediately that it was a musky trying to inhale his bass jig.  This got the juices flowing and we worked the area hard hoping to entice another bite, but it didn’t happen.

We tried fishing a few other areas, but quickly realized the wind was not going to allow it and headed back to the wind protected area.  We must have worked that same shoreline 4-5 times with no bites before Bobber switched to his trusty marabou jig underneath a bobber and put a few small crappie and perch into the boat.  At least he was catching something.

 

He took one perch and sliced out a 1x1 inch square to bait a second rod for musky.  He left this second rod hanging from the boat as he fished with his marabou under a bobber rig.  It wasn't long, before the bait rod was doubled over with a musky gnawing at the other end.  He let the fish run with the bait for a few seconds and then set the hook on a very nice musky.  You can check out the epic battle of musky vs. Bobber by clicking the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn1CWge_KgE

As soon as I put a net on the musky the hook fell from his lip.  Whew.  We pulled him onboard for a quick photo shoot and then Bobber set him free to swim another day.  I’ve never seen a musky with that much fight left in him after landing them.  No doubt he is still swimming.  They are one of the coolest looking fish in freshwater. 

Unfortunately this ended up being the only musky bite of the trip.  I casted all day long with various swimbaits, spinners, and even a large tube jig, but never could entice one into biting.  That makes two Pineview trips in a row for me not even getting a bite, and each trip I never stopped casting.  It seems these fish are getting harder to catch.  It also seems my body is getting older because I was sore the next day.  Dealing with boat wake crashing the boat all day and casting large baits took a toll on these 33 year old bones!